City reviews options for an online annual auction

Items to be auctioned are stored in the Tuscaloosa Police Department evidence storage room.

Dusty Compton | The Tuscaloosa News

By Jason MortonStaff Writer

Published: Tuesday, February 19, 2013 at 3:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Monday, February 18, 2013 at 11:36 p.m.

By Jason Morton

Staff Writer

TUSCALOOSA | After months of planning, City Hall may soon be ready to announce details for the Tuscaloosa Police Department’s auction of unclaimed evidence and property.

The City Council’s Public Safety Committee is expected today to review and, possibly, approve a contract with an Internet-based auction site to host the annual event.

Jimbo Woodson, senior associate city attorney, said the committee would be presented a number of options related to the online auction house.

The committee also would be asked to approve an amendment to the municipal code that would allow the city to hold the auction online, Woodson said.

“The hope is we get a more efficient auction with far fewer city resources,” Woodson said.

Several online auction services could handle the sale and removal of the massive amounts of electronics, bicycles, hand tools and other items stored at the Police Department’s headquarters and at an off-site location nearby.

Tuscaloosa Police Sgt. Don Thompson, who has overseen the auctions since 1999, said last month that four such companies have been identified as options to handle the TPD auction.

City officials, including Thompson and Sgt. Daniel Trimble, the Police Department’s supervisor of the crime lab and evidence locker, have said an online auction would be ideal.

From a logistics standpoint, it would reach a wider audience while eliminating the time police officers spend in planning and holding an auction.

The city auction, which also includes surplus vehicles from the Police Department, the Tuscaloosa Department of Transportation and other city services, is one of the most popular events staged by City Hall. The highest-earning auction brought in about $123,000.

It was put on hold after much of the disposed city property and seized evidence stored off 35th Street was damaged when the Richard A. Curry Facility took a direct hit from the April 27, 2011, tornado.

Among the items planned for sale in the upcoming auction are disposed city property, impounded cars and unclaimed evidence in criminal cases.

There are old police cars and vehicles seized from suspects, including the more than 120 vehicles in the city’s impound lot.

There are trucks, buses and a garbage and waste treatment truck that was damaged in the tornado, as well as old equipment used by the Tuscaloosa Department of Transportation, Tuscaloosa Parking and Transit Authority and Tuscaloosa County Park and Recreation Authority.

Power tools, hand tools, computers and other items recovered from burglaries and thefts will be for sale, and bicycles are one of the most common items recovered that are never claimed, as evidenced by two overflowing storage areas filled with them.

There are even household items, such as small boxes of laundry detergent, that were recovered in shoplifting cases and never claimed by the stores.

<p>By Jason Morton</p><p>Staff Writer</p><p>TUSCALOOSA | After months of planning, City Hall may soon be ready to announce details for the Tuscaloosa Police Department's auction of unclaimed evidence and property.</p><p>The City Council's Public Safety Committee is expected today to review and, possibly, approve a contract with an Internet-based auction site to host the annual event.</p><p>Jimbo Woodson, senior associate city attorney, said the committee would be presented a number of options related to the online auction house.</p><p>The committee also would be asked to approve an amendment to the municipal code that would allow the city to hold the auction online, Woodson said.</p><p>“The hope is we get a more efficient auction with far fewer city resources,” Woodson said.</p><p>Several online auction services could handle the sale and removal of the massive amounts of electronics, bicycles, hand tools and other items stored at the Police Department's headquarters and at an off-site location nearby.</p><p>Tuscaloosa Police Sgt. Don Thompson, who has overseen the auctions since 1999, said last month that four such companies have been identified as options to handle the TPD auction.</p><p>City officials, including Thompson and Sgt. Daniel Trimble, the Police Department's supervisor of the crime lab and evidence locker, have said an online auction would be ideal.</p><p>From a logistics standpoint, it would reach a wider audience while eliminating the time police officers spend in planning and holding an auction.</p><p>The city auction, which also includes surplus vehicles from the Police Department, the Tuscaloosa Department of Transportation and other city services, is one of the most popular events staged by City Hall. The highest-earning auction brought in about $123,000.</p><p>It was put on hold after much of the disposed city property and seized evidence stored off 35th Street was damaged when the Richard A. Curry Facility took a direct hit from the April 27, 2011, tornado.</p><p>Among the items planned for sale in the upcoming auction are disposed city property, impounded cars and unclaimed evidence in criminal cases.</p><p>There are old police cars and vehicles seized from suspects, including the more than 120 vehicles in the city's impound lot.</p><p>There are trucks, buses and a garbage and waste treatment truck that was damaged in the tornado, as well as old equipment used by the Tuscaloosa Department of Transportation, Tuscaloosa Parking and Transit Authority and Tuscaloosa County Park and Recreation Authority.</p><p>Power tools, hand tools, computers and other items recovered from burglaries and thefts will be for sale, and bicycles are one of the most common items recovered that are never claimed, as evidenced by two overflowing storage areas filled with them.</p><p>There are even household items, such as small boxes of laundry detergent, that were recovered in shoplifting cases and never claimed by the stores.</p><p>Reach Jason Morton at jason.morton@tuscaloosanews.com or 205-722-0200.</p>